Tessera Technologies is seeking a ban on imports of Samsung mobile devices allegedly infringing its patents, the semiconductor packaging technology supplier said in a Tariff Act Section 337 complaint (login required) Thursday in International Trade Commission docket 3262. Tessera seeks orders against Samsung devices containing semiconductors, including “power management IC” chips in the “flagship” Galaxy 8 and Note8 smartphones: “These exemplary Samsung products are representative of many other Samsung products imported, sold for importation, and/or sold in the United States after importation by Samsung that feature the same or substantially similar infringing functionality as the exemplary accused products.” Samsung didn't comment Friday.
A National Retail Federation new quarterly report shows smartphones' effects on shopping, Katherine Cullen, NRF director-retail and consumer insights, told a news conference webcast Wednesday from the group's e-commerce show in Los Angeles. Toluna Analytics canvassed 3,002 U.S. adult consumers in late July, finding much consumer research on products happens earlier via online and mobile, she said. Customers are coming through the door “with information, they know their options, they often know where they can find the best price, they know where else they can buy," she added.
T-Mobile “has no issue with voluntary adoption of ATSC 3.0 technology," but is “concerned” about calls for an FCC mandate to “force inclusion of the technology” in smartphones, it told Media Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology staff in Tuesday meetings, said a filing Wednesday in commission docket 16-142. “Counter to the assertions of NAB” that it and its fellow 3.0 petitioners never called for tuner mandates (see 1709250053), “several parties, including NAB members, have argued for Commission action to mandate ATSC 3.0 reception in mobile devices,” said T-Mobile. Its PowerPoint presentation to FCC staff listed the Advanced Television Broadcasting Alliance of low-power TV interests as calling for a tuner mandate in smartphones when 3.0 broadcasts are available to 25 percent of the U.S. population and noted that NAB TV board members Sinclair and Gray have seats on the alliance board. Other 3.0 “mandate proponents” include Free Access & Broadcast Telemedia and Sinclair’s One Media subsidiary and Mark Aitken, Sinclair’s vice president-advanced technology, T-Mobile said. The carrier referenced One Media's May 9 comments in the FCC's 3.0 rulemaking in which it appeared to dip a toe in the water of backing future tuner mandates, though it actually stopped well short of asking the commission to impose them now (see 1705110053).The PowerPoint also referenced an Aitken quote from our Sept. 13 report (see 1709120020) in which he said that “our concern, be it demonstrated by T-Mobile and others, is that, in fact, the free market is not functioning the way that regulators believe it can or should.” That report also quoted Aitken as saying: “To be clear, we’ve not asked for a mandate. We believe in the free market. We hope that the free market can prevail.” The PowerPoint said T-Mobile was the "largest winner of 600 MHz band spectrum" in the incentive auction, and is "working to rapidly deploy competitive wireless services" in that band.
CTA started an “active project” to update its seven-year-old CTA-2037 standard on measuring TV power consumption, said Brian Markwalter, senior vice president-research and standards, in a statement. How to measure TV energy use by up-to-date standards became a hotbed of discussion in March when EPA announced it would deny Energy Star Version 8.0 certification to TVs found not to be comparably energy-efficient when tested “with content that reflects a variety of typical viewing experiences,” versus testing done using the existing IEC 62087 test clip standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission. Members of the CTA working group (R4 Working Group 13) tasked with revising CTA-2037 “want to ensure that the revised standard measures TV power in the way consumers “typically watch television,” said Markwalter.
Though NAB and “fellow” ATSC 3.0 petitioners (see 1604130065) “consistently made plain” they aren’t seeking a tuner mandate for fixed or mobile devices, “six different parties representing wireless interests have felt compelled to publicly oppose such a mandate,” said an NAB letter posted Monday in FCC docket 16-142. “It is curious that some key players in the wireless industry display such great fear over the potential of increased competition for mobile video delivery,” said NAB, referring to letters filed in the past two weeks by Ethertronics, Ericsson, Motorola Mobility, Nokia, Qualcomm and T-Mobile. All opposed 3.0 reception in smartphones as impractical and said a mandate requiring it would be a bad idea (see 1709200016). “Why else would this list of companies fear a ghost?” asked NAB. “If anything, the Commission should recognize that this advocacy demonstrates the potential of Next Gen TV to create real competition in the marketplace. Indeed, it may be one of the strongest arguments for moving forward to approve the use of Next Gen TV as quickly as possible.”
Shooting virtual-reality content that won’t make viewers sick requires camera operators limiting “vertical bobbing,” Richard Mills, Sky VR Studios technical director, told SMPTE webinar participants. “Those of you who get seasick or travel-sick know that if you are in a car and not looking out the window, then the up-and-down, rolling motion of the car can very quickly lead to sickness,” Mills said Thursday. “There’s disparity between what our eyes are seeing and what our bodies are doing. The type of motion which affects us most of all is the vertical movement of the head.” Videogame chase scenes, "to give the impression of motion, do sometimes have a virtual camera that bobs,” Mills said. “That’s fine, because we’re viewing it in a screen, and outside the screen, we see the real world.” When donning a VR headset, “we are totally enclosed within that world, with no exterior reference,” he said. Sky uses PlayStation VR consoles and head-mounted displays to quality-control 360-degree content, Mills said.
A judge in Boston struck down Newton, Massachusetts, drone-use restrictions on grounds they were pre-empted by federal law. U.S. District Judge William Young Thursday sided (in Pacer) with resident Michael Singer, an FAA-certified drone operator. Singer said local law and “operation limits” regulate an “almost exclusively federal area of law.” Congress gave the FAA “the responsibility of regulating the use of airspace for aircraft navigation and to protect individuals and property on the ground,” Young ruled. Congress “directed the FAA to integrate drones into the national airspace system,” and “in furtherance of this duty, the FAA has designated specific rules regarding the visual line of sight for pilotless aircraft operation,” Young said. Newton representatives didn’t comment Friday. Young cited an amicus brief (in Pacer) with CTA and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International opposing the local law. “As the court said, the FAA is the authority on drone rules," said Doug Johnson, CTA vice president-technology policy, in a Friday statement. "The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over safety, flight altitudes, flight paths and no-fly zones.”
Add Qualcomm and Ethertronics, a supplier of embedded antennas and RF components for mobile devices, to companies opposing an ATSC 3.0 reception in smartphones requirement and saying an FCC mandate would be a bad idea. The issue has been a hotbed for discussion in docket 16-142 for the past 10 days as the commission works toward meeting its self-imposed deadline of releasing by year-end an order authorizing voluntary deployment of 3.0 (see 1709180039). Qualcomm “broadly agrees” with T-Mobile’s Sept. 11 white paper (see 1709120020) detailing “significant challenges associated with supporting ATSC 3.0 reception in new mobile devices.” The chipmaker said “any proposal to mandate that mobile devices incorporate support for ATSC 3.0 should be out of the question.” Requiring 3.0 support in mobile devices “would unduly impact device performance, the efficient use of spectrum, and mobile device competition,” said the company. “ATSC 3.0 receiver operation can cause interference to 4G LTE and 5G radios operating in the same device." Ethertronics said challenges of “incorporating both 600 MHz LTE and ATSC 3.0 technologies” in a single smartphone are “substantial.” There are “practical limits to the acceptable size” of a mobile device that consumers will be “willing to purchase,” it said.
Roku agreed to pay $3.5 million to buy all outstanding shares of a privately held Danish technology firm to “enhance” its “player product offering,” the company said in an amended S-1 registration statement filed Monday at the SEC for its initial public offering (see 1709050080). Roku didn’t identify the firm it acquired Sept. 6 -- five days after filing its original S-1 filing. Roku signed an independent contractor services agreement Sept. 12 with Neil Hunt, who joined the Roku board in August after an 18-year career as Netflix chief product officer, the filing said. The contractor agreement will pay Hunt $5,000 for each day he provides consulting services to CEO Anthony Wood, not to exceed $120,000 in any “rolling” 12-month period.
Sharp’s patent infringement complaint at the International Trade Commission seeking an import ban on Hisense smart TVs (see 1709050045) is part of a “scorched-earth campaign” to “undo” a 2015 license agreement that gave Hisense rights to sell Sharp-branded TVs in the U.S., Hisense commented (login required) in docket 337-TA-3246. Hisense-Sharp tensions gained in July with Foxconn plans to build a $10 billion LCD display fab in Wisconsin as the centerpiece of a Foxconn-Sharp commitment for an 8K ecosystem. Legislation authorizing Wisconsin to negotiate a contract that would pay Foxconn up to $3 billion cleared the Assembly Thursday. Gov. Scott Walker (R) was scheduled to have signed the bill into law Monday afternoon. An import ban would harm consumers, said Hisense. “Consumers will suffer from fewer choices among smart TVs.” A decrease “may also cause prices to increase,” it said. On a unit-share basis, Hisense's own product had 3 percent North American TV market share in the first half of 2017, Paul Gagnon, IHS Markit director-TV sets research, told us.